Hazel, I love the Warblers best although all your photos are fantastic! Uncle Red is here with his wife and they freaked over the pics of your Hummingbirds.

I was out planting more Sunflowers and this little guy kept me company . Correct me if I'm wrong but, a White Crowned Sparrow?

And DH finally got one of my bird feeders up ....although it's 9' high and I need to use a ladder to fill it . Still, I'm really excited . The sunflowers are all planted to the left of it, near the wagon.

__________________
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant

LP; while I cannot see the sunflowers planted to the left or near the wagon...

I should have said the sunflower seeds I planted .

Quote:

Originally Posted by klmccallum

...I do see a little black blop sittin' right dab smack in the middle of the picture! Is that pretty Penny?

It is. She was all mopey that we didn't put the new feeder on the other side of the fence for her amusement . Which reminds me, we have a Robin's nest in the woodshed in the backyard. I have to keep a close eye on when the babies hatch so that we can take the the dogs out on leash for a few days while they learn to fly.

__________________
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant

You're so lucky, LP! Definitely a white-crowned sparrow! And so nice of him to keep you company! I saw one pair fleetingly the day before yesterday and none since. One of my absolute favoritest sparrows.

Poor Penny...she just wants to watch the birdies, too

Are you still just seeing a couple of Todds, klm? Ours are starting to gather. Still lots of orioles, too!

__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

I was up til 3am on the site you gave me a link to... http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search.aspx . I love all the info there. Gave me some ideas on shrubs/trees/vines I can plant in the birds' area to provide them with a variety of other food sources. And also left me with a zillion questions....that I won't all post here, I promise .

Just one...virginia creeper...is it invasive? Is it a good idea to plant it so it grows up a couple of trees?

__________________
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant

Hmmmmm....don't know about the Virginia Creeper, LP! But generally, if it has the word "creeper" in the name, I tend to avoid the plant altogether.

Oh, whoopsee...I just checked it in Wikipedia. I didn't realize that was the name of it... We have Virginia Creeper all over here...and it is definitely invasive!!! If you don't have it in your area, don't introduce it I spend most of my early gardening ripping out the stuff I missed from late gardening the fall before It will grow thickly enough to strangle evergreens

__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Are you still just seeing a couple of Todds, klm? Ours are starting to gather. Still lots of orioles, too!

Yep, still only two Todds.

I set up another identical feeder at the back of my yard on Saturday with a hanging pot of annual flowers. Do you know if hummers like Fuchsia?

I planted a Fuchsia along with alysum and lobelia in the hanging pot near the new feeder. When I went to the garden centre and spotted the Fuchsia, the little taggy thing showed a picture of a nice trumpeted flower in full bloom.

I'm hoping these flowers will keep my two Todds around a while longer and hopefully attract more.

__________________
A dog wags his tail with his heart
Dogs have Masters--Cats have Staff

Oh Wow! How did you manage that? Did you get close up pictures? Is his o.k. with the banding? So is Mr. Pinky really a rare species of the finch family? That's pretty kewl!

Well, it did take a little discussion before they decided for sure that Mr Pink was a leucistic purple finch. So now I don't feel so stupid that it took me that long to decide what the heck he was! He was fine as of this morning when I saw him back at the feeders...along with a bunch of grosbeaks. I was a little surprised that he was banded--there were a lot of people milling about in the basement yard and he's usually a little shy around people. But he came to the feeders and flew into the nets despite the crowds.

We caught and banded 64 grosbeaks yesterday--no recaptures, and none of the ones we caught were banded elsewhere. And there were more to be caught, but they don't band past about 11:30 a.m.. Have I mentioned recently that we have a lot or rose-breasted grosbeaks?

If it's a dark pink and flamboyant enough, the hummers will like your fuschia. Even if they don't care to drink from the fuschia, the color will attract them. They really like impatiens, too--especially red ones. Impatiens has a large nectary for that size bloom and red is always an attractant for Todds.

We released 9 hummers from the nets yesterday, too (they aren't licensed to band them and they're so small I'd be scared to let them ). The hummingbirds were putting on a show about 30 feet from the patio where everyone was sitting, watching for birds to hit the nets. People were almost more impressed with the numbers of hummers than with the fact that we banded 116 birds in total...

__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Hazel those are very nice, clear shots of the different birds. Beautiful.
Well done on the banding. I hope you guys get to see some of your banded birds return, it would nice to know for sure when a bird makes it through the winter instead of just guessing.

LP,we have a Virginia creeper covering the back of the house,also under our Blue Spruce and up the trunk of it.
Virginia Creeper is ok,if you take care and trim it,it's also growing on top of our pergola.
I also have one of those White Crowned Sparrows here,they're nice..

Actually, no, chico. But the nature reserve had a 2010 fund-raiser where you could bid on a banding opportunity and I made the high bid. I hope I can convince them to come back next spring and see how many of the birds we banded yesterday came back.

__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Actually, no, chico. But the nature reserve had a 2010 fund-raiser where you could bid on a banding opportunity and I made the high bid. I hope I can convince them to come back next spring and see how many of the birds we banded yesterday came back.

You would think that the banding crew would be interested in coming back for a follow up in a years time.

__________________
A dog wags his tail with his heart
Dogs have Masters--Cats have Staff

I know they like Honeysuckle, I was at my uncles' farm on the weekend & the Ruby Throated males were very active at the Honeysuckle. I didn't get any pics from there but with a bit of time & patience did get some from the feeder. I quietly stood a couple feet away from the feeder & waited, as well as a couple of females, there were a couple of males sparring mid-air.

__________________
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do

The Spirit Lives As Long As Someone Who Lives Remembers You - Navaho Saying

Vindication ~ For all those pets who became sick or lost their lives from tainted pet food

Nice pics, gGK!!! What kind of hummer is that male? He looks so rusty!! Anna's? Um...Rufous? Um.... The only kind we have here is the ruby-throated. You're fortunate to have a little variety out there!

__________________
"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference."

"It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!"

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."